Category Archives: Space

I’ve always been interested in space with Apollo 8 being my earliest space memory. This category is where I spout on about stuff up there and why being an astronaut was the least interesting part of the space program.

During our evening constitutional I mentioned to the Missus that the Cassini spacecraft would be taking a photo of Saturn and Earth that evening and we should get out and wave. Let’s just say her response was underwhelming. However, as the “Say Cheese” moment approached a bunch of Johnny-come-latelies like Brian Cox and Richard Dawkins started twittering about it 1 and the Missus started getting all interested. However, with Saturn hidden by trees in our garden, she wasn’t interested enough to wander down the road with binoculars looking distinctly dodgy: she left that to Jazz and I. So click on the thumbnail and look at this fantastic picture: Jazz and I are on the top-right of the pixel.

Notes:

I believe this to be what people with too much time on their hands call “social media” ↩

We’ve seen them so often they no longer have any impact: Earth-rise taken by Apollo 8, the lift-off of Apollo 11, Aldrin on the Moon, anything taken by the Hubble Space Telescope. Well, I want to argue that the picture below is in the same class. Continue reading →

One of the big advantages of going walking in somewhere remote like the Galloway Forest Park is that during the entire day you can meet no-one. This is also the main disadvantage because if something nasty should happen to you, e.g. break a leg, then it could be a long wait before someone comes along and you end up as Raven-food. And don’t even think about trying to get a mobile phone signal here either. 1 Obviously we leave a note of where we are going but that is usually the car park and who knows where we end up (certainly not me or my trusty navigator). 2 So when I heard about the SPOT Messenger device it sounded ideal and would mean Cathy didn’t worry. So here is a quick review of using it. Continue reading →

Notes:

I’ve tried training Jazz but the “go to the nearest house and bring help” command is still a bit beyond her. ↩

And we’ve been known to change our minds, e.g. if the weather is looking iffy. ↩